THE SEXUAL abuse of children is a most heinous crime, and the Church, civil society, and national and local authorities have tried for centuries to downplay or dismiss its seriousness and ignore its devastating impact on the victims and the psychological damage it inflicts, which surfaces once they grow up.
This crime is more widespread now, due in great part to child sexual abuse materials circulating on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube. Some of them are being challenged in a landmark social media addiction trial in Los Angeles and blamed for enabling abuse and trauma, among others.
Many of the superrich around the world are into child sexual abuse. The controversial Jeffrey Epstein files feature hundreds of the super wealthy and powerful, including politicians, businessmen, and royalty. They fly around the world in their fancy jets and sexually abuse underage girls in resorts, mansions, palaces and private islands.
One of those featured is the United Kingdom’s former prince Andrew, who was arrested and detained for hours on Thursday last week, apparently over his ties to Epstein. This convicted pedophile and child trafficker provided his high-powered “friends” over a thousand women and children to sexually abuse.
Epstein died under mysterious circumstances — some say he killed himself, while others claim he was murdered — in his New York prison cell in August 2019, before he could testify in court.
In the Philippines, 14-year-old boys abuse 6-year-old girls after watching child pornography online.
The country’s telecommunications companies (telcos) do not deploy state-of-the-art active-blocking software to intercept such evil, disgusting and abusive content on the internet, which their servers make available to both adults and children, despite the enactment of Republic Act 11930, or the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials Act.
The easy access to such content on these servers — on the internet — made these telcos wealthy and the abused children scarred for life. And the National Telecommunications Commission appears powerless and tolerant in the face of it, even complicit to a degree. Among the most affected by such harmful images are abusive fathers. They are most likely to view child sexual abuse images on the internet and rape their own offspring.
Last week, the Preda Foundation’s home for abused children welcomed three more of them, joining the 60 others already there for protection and healing. (To be continued)/PN
